Casino foes turn out in force

Thursday

Mar 14, 2013 at 10:00 PMMar 14, 2013 at 10:24 PM

By Steven H. Foskett Jr. TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A day after news broke in Worcester that a Chicago-based casino developer plans a slots operation in the city, residents in the Milford-Holliston-Medway area Thursday turned up the heat in opposition to a gambling proposal in Milford.

A well-attended meeting was held to organize against the Crossroads project, a large, resort-style casino proposed for Milford near Interstates 90 and 495 by developer David Nunes, in partnership with the owners of Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. The meeting, in Adams Middle School Auditorium, featured a presentation by Stephanie Crimmins, who spearheaded the effort last year against a proposed casino resort in Foxboro.

The effort could be a sign of things to come in Worcester if the slots proposal there gets off the ground.

Ms. Crimmins outlined the process that the group she was a part of, No Foxboro Casino, experienced from the day residents found out about the proposal — a joint effort of casino magnate Steve Wynn and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft — to the day when Mr. Wynn and Mr. Kraft pulled out of Foxboro.

Ms. Crimmins opened her presentation lightly enough, with slides showing pictures of the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady and Robert Kraft, and illustrating the power and influence Mr. Kraft wielded in town. But the casino industry is a serious, multi-billion dollar business, Ms. Crimmins said.

A financial analyst by trade, Ms. Crimmins detailed how casinos often operate with billions of dollars of debt, and talked about how casino executives are recruited from top industries and top universities across the country.

Casinos are designed as self-contained entities designed to encourage patrons not to leave, she said. Casino projects are often pitched to communities as boons to the local economy, but the development has the opposite effect, she said. The bulk of the jobs are low-level, high turnover positions, she said. Around 84 percent of casino workers in Connecticut make $22,000 annually, she said.

She said that in the Wynn proposal in Foxboro, the role of the casino in the resort operation was downplayed, but Ms. Crimmins noted that 75 percent of revenue generated by the Wynn proposal would have come directly from casino operations.

The Foxboro group did extensive research in Ledyard, Conn., where Foxwoods is located. Ms. Crimmins went through a list of problems officials and residents attributed to the casino, from trash disposal problems to traffic to stress on local school systems caused by an influx of workers to the sprouting up of addiction treatment centers.

“You’re bound to know a family whose life will be ruined,” Ms. Crimmins said.

The mitigation packages negotiated between the developers and communities are not as rock-solid as one might think, Ms. Crimmins told the audience. She said bankruptcy or a sale could wipe away any mitigation.

Ms. Crimmins said the group in Foxboro got organized early, and spread the word quickly.

People were encouraged to take a stand, and eventually the focus turned to the Board of Selectmen in Foxboro, she said.

The board initially voted not to negotiate with the Wynn/Kraft team, but that vote could have been revisited at any time. Ms. Crimmins said that effectively turned the May election into a casino referendum.

An anti-casino selectman was re-elected, and a casino opponent was elected. A selectman who had not given a clear indication of his stand on the casino was defeated. The election bolstered the anti-casino stance of the Board of Selectmen, and the Kraft/Wynn proposal was almost immediately pulled.

In Worcester, a subsidiary of Rush Street Gaming, Massachusetts Gaming & Entertainment LLC, has submitted a $400,000 license application fee to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, but has not yet officially notified the commission of the site it has chosen for the facility.

However, Worcester City Manager Michael V. O’Brien earlier this week told the City Council that the company will pursue a site in Worcester and it was learned that the site under consideration is the former Wyman Gordon plant site in the Green Island section of the city.

Ken Rockett, a spokesman for Casino Free Milford, said the group formed about a year ago, but re-energized earlier this year. It started out with around 5 volunteers, but that number has ballooned to around 90. He said the group plans on presenting its opposition to the Milford casino project at Monday’s Milford selectmen’s meeting.

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